Tag: 2020 election

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Voting Rights Project Helps Protect 127,000 Texas Ballots

Texas voters and the UCLA Voting Rights Project scored a legal victory with a federal judge’s dismissal of a suit to invalidate more than 127,000 ballots in the state’s most populous county. Chad Dunn, the project’s director of litigation, has been leading the legal effort to protect voting rights in Texas and was part of the legal team defending the drive-through voting option in largely Democratic Harris County. This option permitted voters to cast their ballots from their cars, similar to drive-through banking. The drive-through voting plans had been in place since July and had been approved by the Texas secretary of state. The plaintiffs, members of the state’s Republican Party, filed two motions to the Texas Supreme Court seeking to throw out the drive-through votes; both were denied. The plaintiffs then turned to the federal courts, where a judge ruled Monday that they did not have standing to sue. Hours after the decision was handed down, the Republican plaintiffs filed an appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which denied the motion early Tuesday — Election Day. “It was obvious that this method of voting was approved by the state of Texas and this late attempt to strip voters of their rights was rightfully denied,” Dunn said. “Every vote from a qualified voter should be counted.” — Sonni Waknin

Social Welfare Takes Action to Engage Voters

The students, faculty and staff of UCLA Luskin Social Welfare have launched an ambitious effort to mobilize and support voters during this election season. In addition to reaching out to prospective voters via phone calls, letters and texts, some are serving as poll workers or poll watchers and others are taking part in an Election Day street action spearheaded by MSW students. On Tuesday, which Social Welfare has declared a Day of Civic Action, volunteers will spread out to polling places in Compton, Norwalk and the San Gabriel Valley to offer snacks and emotional support to community members. “Our goal was to capitalize on the energy and enthusiasm of students, staff and faculty in our department around making sure people’s voices are heard and everyone can exercise their right to vote,” said Associate Professor Laura Wray-Lake, who helped launch Social Welfare’s Voter Mobilization Working Group with field faculty member Toby Hur and Chair Laura Abrams. Students and staff quickly stepped up to join the working group, which partnered with the department’s Reimagining Social Welfare Collective to compile a comprehensive resource list for helping to get out the vote, virtually or in person. The effort built upon the nationwide Voting Is Social Work campaign, launched to integrate nonpartisan voter engagement into social work education and practice. “Many of us are passionate about free and fair elections where everyone can participate,” Wray-Lake said. “We see voter mobilization as aligned with social work values, and hope that these kinds of actions will become a regular election season tradition in Social Welfare.”

Yaroslavsky on the Question That Will Decide the Election

October 23, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Zev Yaroslavsky /by Mary Braswell

KCAL9 News called on Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, to provide analysis of the final presidential debate of the 2020 election. Donald Trump and Joe Biden both delivered their messages effectively, he said, but noted that the debate came after 48 million Americans had already cast their ballots. Yaroslavsky weighed in on the role that personal character will play as voters choose their candidate and on the possibility that Russian agents will sow chaos on Election Day. On COVID-19, “Trump has no defense for his inaction,” Yaroslavsky said. “This issue is one that every man and woman in this country understands viscerally, in their gut, because they all know somebody who’s gotten the virus and many of us know people who’ve died of the virus.” He concluded, “Do you want four more years of what we’ve had for the last four, or do you want something different? That’s going to decide this election.”

Ideas and Expertise Exchanged at Post-Debate Forum

October 23, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin's Latest Blog Chad Dunn, Gary Segura, Mark A. Peterson, Martin Gilens, Sonja Diaz /by Mary Braswell

The UCLA Luskin Public Policy community came together after the final presidential debate of 2020 to hear insights from an array of experts on the U.S. political landscape: Dean Gary Segura, an authority on polls and other measures of political opinion; Chair Martin Gilens, whose research focuses on political inequality; Professor Mark Peterson, who specializes in health-care policy; Sonja Diaz, executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative; and Chad Dunn, director of litigation for the UCLA Voting Rights Project. During the 90-minute Zoom gathering, the speakers assessed the exchange between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, which was deemed a step up from previous matchups, then fielded questions from students and alumni. The conversation touched on the accuracy of polling, the threat of voter intimidation, the electoral pathway to victory for each candidate, and even the risk that the country might veer toward fascism. Unless the vote count is tied up amid irregularities in a single, decisive state — as it was in Bush v. Gore in the 2000 race —Segura said the chance that the election’s outcome will be seriously challenged is small. “Try not to let the demons in your head and the demons from 2016 keep you awake at night,” he advised. The conversation was part of a series of forums designed to bring policy students, alumni, faculty and staff together to share concerns, perspectives and experiences within an informed and supportive community. At the next Policy Forum, on Nov. 5, faculty experts will parse the results of the election.

Top Issues Driving the Latino Vote

October 22, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Sonja Diaz /by Mary Braswell

A new UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative report reveals that the economy, health care, COVID-19 and racial justice – not immigration – will drive the 2020 Latino vote in four key swing states. News outlets have shared the report, which is intended to dispel a common misconception that immigration policy is a top-of-mind issue for Latino voters. Candidates for federal, state and local offices who want to capture the Latino vote should talk about how they will address Latinos’ concerns about economic and health issues, the report concludes. The study, which focused on voters in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Texas, recommends establishing a national minimum wage of at least $15 and eliminating exclusions for domestic, farm and tipped workers; increasing Latino representation and graduation in institutions of higher education; ensuring access to health care for all regardless of immigration or employment status; and expanding workplace health and safety regulations to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19.

Read the report

UCLA Voting Rights Project Scores Court Victories

October 10, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin's Latest Blog Chad Dunn, Matt Barreto /by Mary Braswell

UCLA’s Voting Rights Project (VRP) scored major court victories in Texas and Pennsylvania in its fight against attempts to suppress the voice of voters in this critical election year. In Texas, a federal judge blocked Gov. Greg Abbott’s attempt to limit ballot drop boxes to one per county. VRP, part of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at UCLA Luskin, partnered with the League of United Latin American Citizens to sue Abbott. Chad Dunn, VRP’s director of litigation, argued the case in federal court on Oct. 8. The following day, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman struck down Abbott’s order, finding that it resulted in substantial confusion, created burdens on disabled, elderly and minority voters, and “likely violates their fundamental right to vote.” To support the case, Matt Barreto, VRP’s faculty director, co-authored an expert report with research fellow Michael Rios MPP ’20 and political science doctoral students Chelsea Jones and Marcel Roman. They documented that Abbott’s rule would force some voters to travel more than 90 miles round-trip to a downtown ballot return center, as opposed to a satellite county office within five miles. The research also found that many voters preferred using official drop-off sites rather than mailing in their ballots due to concerns about Postal Service slowdowns. In Pennsylvania, a U.S. District Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by President Trump’s reelection campaign that sought to place several restrictions on voting, including prohibiting voters from submitting ballots in drop boxes. VRP submitted an expert report documenting the importance of ballot drop boxes and the need to prevent voter intimidation. In the event these rulings are appealed, VRP is ready to file an appellate brief to defend every citizen’s right to vote.

Update: On Oct. 27, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the governor’s order to restrict the state’s counties to only one drop-off site for mail-in ballots.

Diaz Weighs In on the 2020 Race

October 8, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Sonja Diaz /by Mary Braswell

As the 2020 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, several media outlets have sought out the expertise of Sonja Diaz, executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at UCLA Luskin. News broadcasts on KTLA and Al Jazeera featured Diaz’s analysis of the debate between Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, which she said was really about driving voter turnout since “we have so many barriers at the ballot box, particularly for Black, Latino and Asian American voters.” Diaz told NBC News that neither major party is doing enough to connect with Latino voters, and she weighed in on voter suppression, both overt and indirect, in an Elite Daily article. “Absentee voting and the use of mail-in ballots has now been weaponized by conservatives in the Republican Party to be the new vehicle for ‘voter fraud,’ ” she said, calling this a deliberate attempt to suppress minority voters in the midst of COVID-19.

Read the NBC News article

Read the Elite Daily article

Peterson on Campaigns Reshaped by COVID-19

October 5, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Mark A. Peterson /by Mary Braswell

The Los Angeles Times spoke to Public Policy Professor Mark Peterson for a story about new strategies local candidates are using to get out the vote during a time of pandemic. Many candidates have replaced door-knocking and big rallies with virtual town halls and car caravans with signs and honking. Instead of traditional campaign stops, some have hosted community service projects, such as handing out food, diapers and masks emblazoned with the candidate’s name. Peterson said that it’s unclear how the ongoing pressures of the pandemic will shape decisions about local candidates, including whether voters will hold incumbent politicians accountable for L.A.’s handling of the COVID-19 threat. He also noted that the campaign timetable has been affected by the push toward early voting due to postal delays. People “may vote quite early, before you’ve even had a chance to reach them,” Peterson said.

Read the article

Yaroslavsky on First Debate Between Trump and Biden

September 30, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Zev Yaroslavsky /by Mary Braswell

Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, appeared on KCAL9 News to analyze the first formal debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. “I’m not sure there was a winner out of this debate. But the loser was the American people. They deserve better than this,” Yaroslavsky said following the contentious showdown. Presidential debates dating back to the Nixon-Kennedy face-off of 1960 were argumentative but also classy and substantive — “nothing like this, which descended into a gutter,” Yaroslavsky said. Commenting on an exchange regarding the candidates’ position on race relations, he noted that the FBI, law enforcement agencies and civil rights organizations have determined that white supremacists pose a serious threat. “They’re armed, they are organized,” Yaroslavsky said. “And for the president of the United States to ask them to stand back and stand by is an invitation to violence. That’s the only way I can read it.”

Ong on Prospects for Asian American Political Awakening

September 29, 2020/0 Comments/in Luskin in the News Paul Ong /by Mary Braswell

NBC News spoke to Research Professor Paul Ong for a story on prospects for an Asian American political awakening fueled by the Nov. 3 election. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has called on Asian Americans to vote, donate, volunteer and run for office in order to “realize our place in this country and our potential,” the story noted. No single candidate can mobilize an entire voting bloc, Ong said. But he added that Asian Americans are confronting surging unemployment and discrimination and “they cannot ignore that President Trump is a driver of the anti-Asian narrative.” Ong, director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA Luskin, was also quoted in another NBC News story on polls showing that the fast-growing Asian American electorate favors Democratic candidate Joe Biden, although the support among younger voters is not enthusiastic.